New staff member and flexible working

[Karting1967]

I work for a small company and we have just taken on the first staff member who reports to me. It’s an admin role, customer facing, 9-5.

She’s made a great start so far.

The company is doing well and I will have another direct report in a few weeks with more to follow if all goes to plan.

Due to the fact that new colleague has a long commute (say 2.5 hours per day), the directors are already talking about offering her flexible hours and the possibility to work from home on a regular basis.

Whilst I agree we should do what we can to keep good staff and offer flexibility, I disagree with their suggestion as it only stores up problems for the future as and when other staff join. Someone else will want to start late, finish late; another will want to come in early and finish early... And before you know it everyone’s working different hours that we can’t refuse because we offered it to the first person.

What are other people’s opinions/experience of this?

Agreeing for one person doesn’t mean agreeing for everyone.

No but it makes it more difficult to refuse.

The thing to remembers is that a flexible working request doesn’t have to be approved if it doesn’t fit in with the needs of the business so while you might give this first employee flexible working, requests from other employees could be refused because they may have been employed to fill a role that has to be office based and doesn’t suit the business to work from home.

I've worked at various firms with flexible working for everyone for a decade or so. Providing you set core hours, are task focused it works very well. Recently we decided to Ditch the office and move everyone to home working, currently we have staff spread over three countries.

You need to be on top of everything when it comes to communication with regular video meetings, daily catch up meetings etc.

We believe that it allows us to keep talented workers who would normally have issues with childcare etc. It has allowed us to support colleagues with young families much more effectively than a traditional office environment would

Flexible working requests should be considered on a case by case basis and if the business can currently support flexible working for this particular employee it would be wrong to refuse it on the basis of what future, as yet unhired, employees might want to do.

But this staff member hasn’t requested it, has no caring responsibilities outside work and has only been there 4 weeks. It feels like too much too soon when she’s not yet proved herself.

What you need is a policy that says a flexible request can be submitted, after x months of working at the very least. You can't have one rule for one, and one for another.

You don't have to have caring responsibilities to ask or be offered flexible working and if the directors are considering offering it even when she hasn't requested it then they must have reasons why. Perhaps they're keen to retain someone they perceive as talented (based on previous experience, references, interview) and don't want her long commute to be so much of a downside that she might quit?

She must have really impressed the directors for them to offer it, so good on her.

I wouldn’t work for a company that didn’t offer flexible working and at least one day a week from home. I currently work 2 days at home and it’s a great balance. I also have no caring commitments, but use the time to improve my work-life balance.

A commute like that is gruelling, so fair play to your directors for being proactive in recognising this and wanting to keep a staff member.

Why not talk to the employee, it may be that she wouldn't want it even if it was offered.

If she does, have a plan that after 3-6 months, when she's ready to go to solo and has proven herself, she can do more agile working.

Everyone has flexible working in my office and It works well.

OP I have to say there is a slight hint of you being on a little power trip here. Your directors have suggested this. They will have good reasons, they aren’t running the business out of the goodness of their hearts, they’re there to make money so if they’ve decided this then it will be for business reasons. You sound like you just don’t like that a decision has been made about a staff member who reports to you.

Totally agree. A few years ago the firm i work with employed another 16 workers, the management decided that as they were new employees it would be better to keep them all in the same unit with a handful of experienced staff to keep them right. The long-term staff were then given the worst shifts possible to allow for this. A few weeks after they had started it began, some asking if they could drop down to a 4 day week, others asking if they could work from home and others still asking if they could possibly drop some hours. The management bent over backwards helping them and at the same time angered long-term employees who had worked long and hard coping before we had the new staff. We have now lost some very good members of staff who were very rarely off work, had a good work ethic and knew their jobs inside out. I know this is sounding as if the long term workforce have a problem with the management but flexability while great for people with children, sick parents etc can cause more stress / longer hours on the other staff.

You do sound rather put out by the idea of this employee possibly being offered something you don't have.

But this staff member hasn’t requested it, has no caring responsibilities outside work and has only been there 4 weeks. It feels like too much too soon when she’s not yet proved herself.

Ging against popular opinion here, but I think you are right.
Presumably she thought it was worth traveling 75mins each way to do this job, and presumably her circumstances haven't changed, so I'm not sure why the directors are so keen to be falling over themselves to offer something that hasn't even been requested, at this stage

Don't get me wrong, I think the ability to work flexible hours is a real bonus in a job, as is the ability to work from home, but you said in your OP that your role is customer facing, from 9 - 5, so I can't understand how this could work. It needs to fit with your business needs.
Now, whereas wfh / flexible working has a lot of advantages to employees, there can be issues for employers, so it does seem odd to be trying to suggest it to new employees who haven't requested it.

Customer facing role, just wondering how that would work with someone working from home. Or does that encompass dealing with customers by phone?
Anyway I would be thinking wait and see at this point.

Not put out at all. I live 10 minutes away and have been very well looked after in a short period of time with the company.

I think flexible working is good for the individual and the company. My current company are very flexible no core hours and home working as desired. It helps me balance my work home life and also means I'm flexible for them particularly when travelling or meetings in different time zones.
I know flexible working arrangements are less applicable in some environments but in most cases I think it boosts productivity.

You can't refuse it based on the basis that everyone might want it.

However, as she reports to you, you can have a large say in it and how you build your team.

You say it's a 9 to 5 customer facing role so if she is not there, who is doing that role? Is there a significant amount of administration that can be done remotely? If she worked a longer day and then had Fridays off, how would that affect the rest of the people who worked alongside her? And what if... everyone did work flexibly, were task focused and committed to things as mentioned above, daily touch points, regular meetings, shared time when everyone is available to have all hands meetings? Is this the kind of structure you could work in? Can you see any benefits for yourself? I wonder if the directors are thinking this way?

If however, you are more of a 9-5, everyone present and visible, then perhaps you need to discuss this with your directors and see if the two pictures can be aligned... or not.

Hasn't proved herself

Who hired her? Because you obviously don't trust your recruitment system which is on your company, not the employee.

My commute is an hour but I have dc and juggling childcare and commuting is a nightmare. I may have to let my manager know next week if I can't have more flexibility I'll need to quit after being there 4 weeks and due to a change in my personal situation.

I do 1 day working from home but need 2, possibly 3. I had that in my last role which worked fine. It's a great job so I'd hate to quit, but I will if I can't have proper flexibility.

Do you not trust the new employee? Are you a micro manager? Employees who enjoy a healthy work life balance are more productive and loyal.

People don't need outside commitments to wang flexible working . It's about a healthy mindset. S commute that long may not be sustainable in the long run

I can understand you feeling unhappy that the goal posts seem to be shifting so quickly after appointment. She presumably knew her commute etc when she took the post and if she isn’t there 9-5, who is going to be doing the customer facing tasks she was hired for. I don’t understand why the directors would be considering flexible working when this hasn’t been requested by the staff member - they’re assuming she would want to work from home, for example, when some people like the structure of going out to work. Is it possible she has spoken to them directly or has been talking about finding the commute a challenge?

It would maybe be worth talking to your directors to see what they’re actually thinking (and maybe thinking about whether you too might like a degree of flexibility in your working life), and having a check in with your staff member to see how she’s settling in, whether things are going ok and get a feel for whether she’s actually informally checked out the possibility of more flexible working.

As far as other people possibly wanting flexible working, the reality is they might, it’s increasingly common to find a variety of work patterns across a staff team - it can work really well if you, as the manager, really think creatively about when you need staff in the office and what they need to do there and what can be done from home. You’ll attract talented, loyal staff and retain them. It means moving away from a presentee, Monday to Friday, 9-5 mentality but it could really work to your advantage.

I used to have a long 2 hour commute at one job. After two years i was sick of the commute so I left, even though I loved the job. Sometimes things happen to make that journey even longer, e.g. road accident, train delay, running late so hitting rush hour traffic. If shes feeling ill she''ll be less likely to come in. If she is good at her job, why not make her job a little easier, she 'll end up staying for longer. I would. Not everyone will be entitled to the same, it has to be reviewed on an individual case.

Why does she or anyone have to work 9 to 5? If it's admin based and not customer facing or something like a helpdesk, surely there is scope for some working at home and maybe some different working hours such as 8 - 4 or 10 - 6 etc?

OP I think you need to consider your response to this. Are you one of those people who doesn't trust anyone unless they are physically in front of you. Are you a micro manager? Are you a bit jealous?

This is not the best way to get work out of people and retaining good talent is essential.

But this staff member hasn’t requested it, has no caring responsibilities outside work and has only been there 4 weeks. It feels like too much too soon when she’s not yet proved herself.

I wouldn't want to work for you with that attitude. You don't need to have caring responsibilities to want the flexibility of working from home. How do you know they haven't requested it? Even if they haven't isn't it good that your directors are not stuck in a rigid must be at the desk type of mentality? Also if you can't manage people being rubbish at home then in my opinion you can't manage full stop.